This is Your Friday Open Thread for June 19, 2020
Tell us how you are! Tell us what you’re up to! Tell us anything at all!
On Juneteenth, Heed the Calls of Black Trans Freedom Fighters
On a day commemorating Black freedom, we, particularly non-Black people, must recommit to freedom for Black trans people.
Into the A+ Advice Box #13: Social Distancing, Polyamorous Housing Decisions, and More!
Coping with feeling like it’s the end times and residual religious fears, sexual needs changing within long-term relationships, getting started with dating apps, and more!
How To Write A Spell Against White Supremacy
To me, magic means resilience and connecting to ancestors who survived the tragedy of the Middle Passage. Magic runs through my veins and feels like my birthright. It’s stronger than white supremacy will ever be.
The Comment Awards Are Celebrating Gay Wrath
“The entire concept of a warrior nun is queer – if there’s no rainbow content, I’m gonna fight someone.”
Juneteenth: A Celebration Syllabus
Just as the Emancipation Proclamation meant nothing to the people who its message hadn’t yet spread to, Juneteenth reminds us that it takes work and time for the joy of liberation to reach everyone.
S L I C K: Constellations #4 Puppy Pile
Paige leaned back into Bennett. Lauren kissed down her throat and on to her collarbone, little nips and sucks on her skin. “Lauren wants to suck you off,” Paige whispered to Bennet. “Don’t you, Lauren.”
That’s So Raven Symoné Actually Got Gay Married
Congratulations to Mrs. Raven Symoné Pearman Maday and Mrs. Miranda Maday Pearman. Y’all really did that. I hope your honeymoon at Disneyland is one for the ages.
Principles of Pride: The Riot Black and Indigenous Trans People Deserve
I want the world to no longer assume ownership of our bodies, but we cannot do that without land. Decolonizing the land itself is not only crucial but necessary for a liberated future in which everyone’s body belongs to themselves.
How to Start a Mutual Aid Fund
I know that collective care is the future because it has made my past and present possible. We must acknowledge that mutual aid is not original—or optional—for chronically dispossessed people and therefore, always already political.
My Top 10 Favorite Lesbian Films: Drew Gregory
If love is going to exist — which, ugh, I guess it does — then it’s going to exist within the messiness of our lives. It’s going to exist alongside our families and our cultures and our hopes and our fears. It’s going to be hard and it’s going to take risk.
24 Actions You NEED to Take to Help Trans Women of Color Survive
This isn’t just exhausting. This is intergenerational trauma, oppression, and maybe even genocide. This violence is specifically targeted against black and brown women, gender non-conforming folks, and especially trans women of color.
The “One Day at a Time” Animated Special Met the Pandemic’s Challenge With Signature Heart
It’s quintessential One Day at a Time: affirming in a way that few other shows could be, affirming in a way that few others strive to be.
Pop Culture Fix: Kristen Stewart To Play Princess Diana Because Why Not
Topics also include Carly Usdin is producing a Pride podcast you’ll want to watch, queer actress Devery Jacobs queering up her role in The Order, a documentary about a lesbian Cantopop star, and more.
No Filter: Here For Janelle Monáe’s 2 Hat Revolution
Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey are starting a podcast! Kristen Kish and Padma Lakshmi are matching! Hayley Kiyoko is good at signs!
Foolish Child #74: Karens Don’t Get It
“Karen” is a whole conversation about: white fragility, white privilege, white women weaponizing their tears against Black people when we don’t comply.
24 Sex Toys for the Horny, Lonely, and Self-Isolating
Who says getting it on by yourself isn’t as fun as partnered sex? Pick up a few of these toys and enjoy getting to know your body! I know I will!! Happy masturbating!
My Top 10 Television Shows: Valerie Anne, Superqueero Head Girl
Wynonna Earp is funny and smart and full of found family feels, which I suppose is how it led me to my smart, funny found family.
Also.Also.Also: Fiona Apple Put Her Money Where Her Mouth Is, Tells Hollywood to Redistribute Wealth
Fiona Apple is out here doing it. Also: Rep. Ilhan Omar, Angela Davis, and Shea Couleé. Thinking about what it means to be young, Black, and in the Trayvon Martin Generation. The WNBA is back in action. And more!
Principles of Pride: Sex Work Is Real Work, Sex Workers Are Fucking Revolutionary
A free world for sex workers would be a free world for people’s bodies, desires, and pleasures — that is to say, a world worth fighting for.